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"Extremely Hypocritical": This is how industry activists received the ad campaign to stop smoking at Philip Morris, one of the largest tobacco companies in the world.
The manufacturer of Marlboro, among other brands, stated that the measure was the "next important step" in its objective to "permanently stop selling cigarettes".
But the British Cancer Research organization said the company was only trying to promote its alternatives to smoking like burnt tobacco.
"This is a tremendous hypocrisy ," said the organization, noting that Marlboro continued to promote smoking outside. from the United Kingdom .
"The best way to help Philip Morris to help that people do not smoke, is to stop making cigarettes," said George Butterworth, head of tobacco control policy at Cancer Research UK.
According to the organization, smoking is the leading cause of preventable smoking. Announce and invite people to stop smoking completely, including using electronic cigarettes .
The Action Organization for Smoking and Health (Ash) also criticized the campaign entitled "Take My Lighter" ( Hold My Light ) and which was launched in four pages of the British newspaper The Daily Mirror Monday.
For Ash, it's a form Philip Morris bypbades the rules banning the promotion of tobacco in the UK
There is also a video as part of the campaign that shows a young woman negotiating in a "Mission Impossible" room to pbad the lighter to a group of friends. who support him in their attempt to quit smoking.
Most advertisements and promotions of tobacco in the United Kingdom are prohibited and the regulations introduced last year imply that tobacco products must be sold in single packs. green color
Deborah Arnott, Ash's executive director, said that Philip Morris was still advertising his Marlboro brand all over the world and that it was legal to do so.
"The problem is that you can no longer do it in the UK, we are a dark market where all advertising, promotion and sponsorship is prohibited and cigarettes are sold in packages without images, "he said.
"Philip Morris then promotes the name of the Marlboro-related company."
Previously, Philip Morris had declared that he wanted a "smoke-free" future.
Like many tobacco companies, Philip Morris focuses on new products to replace. the number of smokers in the UK continues to decline.
That's why they started marketing several alternatives to cigarettes, including a heated tobacco product, Iqos. Nicocig, Vivid and Mesh electronic cigarettes are also owned by Ohilip Morris.
& # 39; Take time & # 39;
The director of the company, Peter Nixon, stated that his new advertising campaign was " for helping smokers find alternatives ."
But when? he was asked why, if Philip Morris was so interested in people who quit smoking, they just stopped making cigarettes and were completely focused on alternative products, he said, because it's because that smokers would simply look for a competitive product.
"Cigarettes still represent 87% of our business We want to become [libres de humo] as soon as possible and we want to sell alternatives, but it takes time," he said. .
To achieve this goal, Nixon said the company had invested more than $ 5 billion in developing alternative products to cigarettes. And the campaign they launched suggests four ways to quit smoking: quitting, using nicotine patches, smoking electronic cigarettes, and using heated tobacco products.
Exceptionally, the newspaper The . Mirror referred in his editorial to the advertisement covering the newspaper and declared himself "happy to support the campaign".
He also added, "Yes, we were also surprised that the campaign was created by Philip Morris Ltd. But it can only be positive that they are trying to invite people to stop to smoke. "
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